• • •
Iris arose groggily the next morning. In the bathroom she stared at her reflection, touching her face, examining herself for change. She’d half imagined she’d see a different person in the mirror.
Downstairs the Willetses were at the table, sipping coffee with her parents. Leah and Stephen had not yet come down.
“Well, good morning,” Bill greeted her.
“Morning, Daddy.” Iris bent over her father’s chair, shyly, to kiss him. Wondering, as she had as a teenager, if he could tell what had happened to her last night. And what he’d think, if he could.
To her dismay the coffeepot was empty, so she waited by the counter, half listening to the conversation behind her, as she brewed another batch. “Why don’t you join us?” Millie asked. It wasn’t so much an invitation as an SOS call. “We were just telling Adele and Lance about the farm,” Millie said.
“It must have been nice to grow up in such natural environs,” Adele said, turning her attention abruptly to Iris. She drank her coffee black, which Iris thought fitting somehow.
“We were lucky,” Iris agreed, pouring her cup and sitting down at the table. She was eager to escape outside. “Though I’m sure Leah’s told you all about it.”
Lance and Adele shook their heads in unison. “Your sister’s a quiet one,” Adele said. “Quite the little mystery.”
Millie interjected. “Leah was a star swimmer, did you know? We had her in the lake at age two! Couldn’t keep her out of it.”
Lance chuckled fondly, but Adele turned to Iris. “And you? Were you an accomplished swimmer as well?”
Accomplished? Iris gulped her hot coffee, unnerved by the intentness of Adele’s gaze, and struggling to put a finger on any one thing she might truly describe herself as accomplished at. “Not quite like Leah,” she allowed. “But I loved to swim. Still do.”
“And what do you do?”
Iris glanced at the clock on the wall. Was this an interrogation? “I’m a literary agent,” Iris answered, standing quickly. “But I’m working on my own project now.”
“Iris has her first book coming out,” Millie lauded. “A cookbook. With farm-to-table recipes, much in the spirit of our family business.”
Iris flashed her mother a look, shocked that Millie had paid enough attention to realize what she’d been working on, and just as shocked she was pitching her so hard. There was no mistaking her aim, though—Millie was driving the ball right into the Willetses’ net.
“There’s no publisher yet, Mom,” Iris corrected, leaving out the very real possibility that there might never be. That at present it was little more than a pipe dream between old friends, and therapy for a runaway wife. “It’s in the works,” she explained to Adele.
“How charming. And I hear you have children. Where are they?” There was a note of appraisal that made Iris bristle. Millie, too, glanced into her lap.
“They’re coming up soon,” Iris said. “They’re at camp for the summer.”
“And your husband?”
Iris drained her cup and moved to the sink. “I need to get to work,” she said to the group, forcing a smile.
“Iris is very busy,” she heard Millie telling the others as Iris hurriedly filled a thermos with coffee. “Did I mention that she’s also restoring one of our antique barns this summer?”
“Is that so?” Adele said. “You know one summer, Stephen—”
But Millie’s voice rose above Adele’s. “That’s our girl. Books, barn restoration. Busy, busy, busy.” Score two for Millie Standish. For once Iris felt like they were on the same team.
• • •
Cooper’s truck was parked in front of the barn. Iris hesitated outside. What exactly did a soon-to-be-divorced woman on the brink say the morning after a stolen kiss?
Inside Cooper was on a ladder, his back turned, but he had sensed her arrival. “Good morning.”
“Morning to you, too.” Iris could not bring herself to look up to see what he was doing. She could barely will her body to remain still, suddenly aching as it was with the urge to flee.
Speak, she ordered herself. Now, while he’s too high up on the ladder to get a good look at the wreck that you are.
But before she could decide what to say, Cooper was climbing back down. Iris busied herself with a nearby broom; a handy prop, she decided, sweeping madly at sawdust shavings. A cloud of dust rose between them, but she kept sweeping. Even as Cooper came to stand beside her. Even as he reached for the handle and gently removed the broom from her grip.
“Iris.” He was so close. She had no choice but to return his gaze.
Cooper set the broom against the wall. “About last night . . .”
Iris blinked. “Yes?”
Cooper paused, choosing his words carefully. “I was going to start out by apologizing.”
Iris held her breath.
“But I’m not sorry. I kissed you. And I’m glad that I did.”
She exhaled.
“But I am sorry if I overstepped my boundaries. I don’t know what’s going on with you and your husband. But I want you to know that what I did last night is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. And I hope it didn’t offend you, or put you in an awkward place.”
Iris couldn’t speak. But she found that she could move. She shook her head rapidly from side to side, No, no, you did not offend me. While inside her thoughts raced, Yes, yes, I wanted it, too!
“So, we’re good?” he asked, placing his hands on her upper arms. It was not an embrace, but Iris could feel the warmth of his skin on hers.
“About that.” Iris paused. She wanted to tell him. “You already knew I was separated from my husband.”
Cooper nodded solemnly.
“We’re divorcing.” There. It was out.
“Iris, I’m so sorry.” He pulled her against him, his chin resting on her head. “You don’t have to go into it.”
She would some other time. When she was ready. “I just wanted you to know.”
Cooper squeezed her gently. “Thank you for trusting me with that.”
It was all she needed to hear.
• • •
Together they went over the final buttressing work to be done. Cooper reviewed the measurements of wood he’d need cut while Iris turned her attention to the saw and the lengths of lumber. But she could not concentrate.
Instead, she found herself staring up the ladder at Cooper. At his Levi’s that fit just right. At his strong shoulders that moved smoothly beneath his faded T-shirt as he worked. Combined with the humidity of the growing day, it left her light-headed.
Now what? she kept wondering. Were they just friends, acknowledging feelings but tucking them responsibly into their back pockets? Or were they more? And was she crazy to want more at this stage in her life? She knew the answer to that one. She yanked the plug out of its outlet. The last thing she needed in her condition was to be operating a power saw.
Cooper glanced down the ladder. “What’s up?”
“Just need a break.” She slipped outside and flattened herself against the barn siding, which was rough and already growing warm with the sun’s heat.
Below, the lake surface stretched green and placid, and Iris yearned to submerge herself. But it seemed someone else had had the same thought.
Leah strode across the grass, to the far edge of the yard where the sand was the only interruption between lawn and water. She paused and glanced over her shoulder. Behind, Stephen followed, his gait slow and measured, as if he was deep in thought.
They were just below the barn, and their voices carried up the rise, allowing Iris to feel somehow like less of a spy.
“I’m sorry,” Stephen said, stopping a few feet away from Leah. “Like I said, I had no idea my parents were going to announce that.”
Leah’s arms were
crossed. She turned away.
“Come on, Leah,” Stephen said, reaching out. “Please understand.”
“We already talked about this!” Leah cried. “You promised that I could define my own role with the foundation somehow.”
“Nothing’s been decided!” he insisted. “Listen, we can work this out. I’ll talk to them.”
Iris glanced toward the house, wondering if any of the others were within earshot. Stephen and Leah may have thought they’d chosen a spot a safe distance away from the house, but the water carried voices across the lake all the time.
Leah spun to face him. “What about my work here on the farm?” she said, and Iris realized she was crying. Instinctively, she stepped toward her sister. “I’ve grown this business with my own two hands, out of the dirt. Being back here, I realize how much a part of me this is.” Leah opened her arms, gesturing to the fields and the barns above them. “I can’t just give it up.” Her voice fell, to a low and pleading timbre that Iris could barely make out. “Don’t ask me to, Stephen.”
And then Stephen pulled her against him and she relented. She raised her face to his, kissing him desperately. Breathing a sigh of relief, Iris turned away. She could not watch as Stephen bent to the grass with her still in his arms. She wasn’t alone in her struggles that morning. But it was no real comfort.
Nineteen
By the end of the day, Iris was exhausted, though it was more from her worries than the work. She’d managed to get through the afternoon with Cooper, who behaved, oddly enough, as if nothing had happened. He was his usual friendly self, but it was precisely the “usual” part that bothered her. Had he changed his mind?
She needn’t have worked herself up, however. As they were cleaning up, Cooper leaned against the bed of the truck and regarded her carefully.
“What?” She pushed her hair away from her face, suddenly conscious of how dusty and sweaty she must be. It was a far cry from her carefully constructed appearance the night before. No heels or lipstick today.
“Nothing,” he said. But his boyish grin said otherwise. How was it that a thirty-nine-year-old man could still match his yearbook photo so closely? “Want to go for a swim?”
“Here?” Iris glanced nervously down the hill at the house, wondering what the others were doing, and what they’d think if she were to race down to the water’s edge and jump in with Cooper. It was exactly what she wanted to do.
“Here. Or over at the cove, if you’d rather.”
Iris hadn’t been to the cove in years. No more than a sandy spit, the legendary local spot stretched around the corner from the town boatyard and followed the tree-lined shore where the lake was wider and deeper. A favorite teenage hangout, it boasted some of the highest cliffs on the lake and a rope swing that both Iris and Leah had spent plenty of time on as kids.
“The cove,” she said, a rush of excitement filling her chest. “Let me run down to the house for my suit.”
• • •
It was just a swim on a hot day, she told herself as she rummaged quickly through her dresser. The faded red swimsuit was not going to work. She had a navy-blue tank she’d brought from home, but standing before the mirror, she wondered what she’d been thinking. It was something Millie would wear. Frantically she tore through her drawer, realizing she had nothing.
Somebody else did, though. Iris ducked across the hall into Leah’s room. She tripped over a pair of Stephen’s loafers and headed for the closet. This was no different from Leah “borrowing” her new black sandals, right? Two drawers down she hit the jackpot. She pulled out the red bikini top that Leah had worn on Cooper’s tailgate that afternoon. Disgusted, she flung it behind her onto the carpet. There was another bikini, a black string, she realized to her dismay. Leah had no kids; her taut belly told a different story than Iris’s.
Finally she laid her hands on a chocolate tankini. A toss-up. The bottoms had high openings, which made Iris cringe. She really should’ve kept up with that damn spinning class back at home. Nonetheless, she tucked the stolen suit under her arm.
The cove seemed smaller. It still surprised Iris how things that had once seemed so big to her, as a child, were actually not. As if reading her mind, Cooper echoed her sentiments. “The rope swing doesn’t seem so ominous now, does it?”
Iris glanced down the shoreline at the cliffs that rose suddenly from the water’s edge. “No,” she lied. “Not nearly as impressive.” There was no way she would consider attempting those rocks now. Motherhood had a way of ruining the prospect of anything remotely risky. Horseback riding equaled head injuries. Skiing summoned images of an orthopedics office. Which meant rope swings off thirty-foot ledges promised certain death.
“Let’s go,” Cooper said before she could calculate the drop from the highest rock.
“Now? We could go for a walk first.” But Cooper had already shed his T-shirt and was trotting down to the water. “Wait!” she called after him.
The first steps were colder than the shallow strip of lake near her parents’ house, and Iris froze midcalf, which was probably an unfortunate look. She’d hoped to get underwater before Cooper turned around.
“Come on!” he called.
Iris balked. She looked down, sucking in her stomach where the tankini rode up over her belly button. At least her bottom wasn’t hanging out of the back end, she was pleased to note.
In one swift dive she went under, feeling strong and sure of her stroke. In no time she caught up. “Good form,” Cooper called out. Which gave her another rush of adrenaline that sustained her all the way along the shore to the rope swing area.
Here, they strode out of the water and up the pebbly shore. Cooper reached the base of the boulders first and began climbing, looking back to check on her. The gray rocks were large and smooth, and fairly easy to climb. At the midpoint, Cooper reached a hand out to her. Iris took it, touching him for the first time all day, and allowed him to pull her up. “It’s not much farther,” he puffed. She shadowed his ascent, watching the muscles of his brown back.
Soon they were at the top, with a cluster of scraggly pine trees behind them, and the wide blue surface of lake and sky stretching out before them. “It’s still fairly ominous,” she whispered, crouching on the ledge, and Cooper laughed, resting a hand on her shoulder.
“We don’t have to jump,” he said. “I just thought it’d be nice to take in the view.”
Iris sat, pulling her knees to her chest, and Cooper plopped down beside her. His hair stuck up in wet spikes, and he ran his hand through it in a way that made Iris’s heart ache. She shivered.
“You cold?”
“No,” she said through chattering teeth. The sun was low in the sky and there was a light breeze picking up over the rocks.
“Here.” He wrapped his arm around her, loosely, and she leaned into him, tingling at the press of their warm skin beneath the sheen of lake water.
“Better?” he asked, and she nodded, closing her eyes for a moment.
“So, the wedding’s coming up soon, huh?”
The wedding. It wasn’t what Iris wanted to talk about up here. Not with Cooper, not with all the rest that rolled uneasily in her mind.
“Is Leah nervous?” he asked.
Iris looked at him out of the corner of her eye. At Cooper’s strong profile, his nose, which had the tiniest bump in the center, an old sports injury she found handsome. Why was he asking about her sister?
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Probably.”
She felt his eyes on her. “You guys aren’t that close, are you?”
“No,” she admitted. “We used to be, I think, but I can’t remember when, to be honest.” Here was Leah, up on the rocks with them. But instead of pushing her away, Iris seized the moment.
“What about you guys?” she asked, her stomach flip-flopping as she said it.
“What do
you mean?”
Iris swallowed. “You and Leah. You seem close, sometimes. Like you get each other.”
She waited while Cooper considered it, wondering if she’d crossed a line. But she’d crossed so many lately.
“I guess we were sort of close,” he said finally. “Last summer.” Iris tipped her chin back, facing the breeze that had picked up over the rocks. Here it was.
“I came home around the same time she did, and we sort of ran into each other a few times.” He looked over at her. “But it was no big deal. Not like we dated or anything.”
For the first time Iris turned to face him. “Really?”
He nodded, his eyes as blue as the water and sky around them, and suddenly Iris felt dizzy with relief. He laughed lightly. “Were you worried?” he asked. “That it was more?”
Iris shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. “Not my business,” she said quickly. “But you two just seemed to have a connection. The way you talked. And that time at the bar, when she was so drunk and you stepped in.”
Cooper nodded. “I guess we do. Or did, at least. When I first came back to town, I was pretty lost. Sherry and I had just divorced. I’d sold my house, and left my business. It was the worst kind of way to come home, you know?”
Iris nodded. Boy, did she.
“And then I saw your sister at the farm stand one day. She was home, like me, and starting up this new business with your folks, and every time I came by she just sort of cheered me up. You know how Leah is.”
“Yeah, she has that effect.”
“So I invited her out on my dad’s boat.”
Iris listened as Cooper told her about the outings on the lake with Naomi and some of the other farm help. She’d been right about them hanging out. But it still didn’t add up.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you guys ever get together?”
The Lake Season Page 18